Get a Free Digital Movie and 8 Other Reasons to Check Out Vudu

I am a huge fan of digital movies. They're great. I have a digital movie library of almost 300 movies. I don't have to store them anywhere and I can access them on my laptop, on my X-Box, on my phone, on my wife's phone, and on any other device I have an internet connection on. I use Vudu, and these are the top 9 reasons why:

 1. It's Free
It doesn't cost any monthly fees to store your movies. Unfortunately, it's not Netflix where all the movies are provided to you. It is a free service, but you do have to buy movies for your library. There are different and cost effective ways to do that though, such as...

2. UV Spider: 
My wife just had a birthday. I bought her a copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find it the day after it came out on DVD and digital. I bought it LEGALLY, on digital for $6, and it has been one of the more expensive movies I've bought. UV Spider sounds like it would be a sketchy place. It isn't. It is a website that tracks multiple digital movie sellers. It lists all of their prices and products on one website so that we can get the best deals. It also allows and shows reviews from the users, so you can see if they're any good. I have never had any problems with any sellers on this site, and I have made 18 purchases on it. To date, my cheapest purchase was The Amazing Spider Man 2, which I got for $0.74. With services like Fandango Now, Amazon, and Vudu charging $5 or $6 just to rent a movie, why not buy it for the same or cheaper, and then have it forever?

Real prices as of 4/9/2017, as seen by me, Lance

3. Mobile Disk to Digital
THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE MOVIE! Sort of. Right now Vudu is doing a promotion with their mobile disk to digital program, where you can get your first mobile disk to digital for free. How it works is you scan the bar-code on the DVD case, and it ads a digital copy to your account. I haven't tested this out yet. I do know that you have to be at the address you have listed as your billing address for it to work, and I believe it limits you to 100 movies a year. I always used their older disk to digital program, Vudu to go. It was an app for your laptop. What I really liked about this one was that if you converted over 10 movies, it only cost $1 per movie. It usually costs $2 per movie, and since I've already converted my whole library, I'm not sure if it applies to the mobile version, or to the Vudu to go app either. It is important to note that not all movies are allowed to be converted. Unfortunately, anything owned by Disney won't work. Because of this, they are also more expensive on UV Spider, usually right around the $5-6 dollar range, but that still isn't terrible. There are a lot of older movies (especially in the 60s) that won't convert as well. I think they're constantly improving this though.

4. Walmart Disk to Digital
The disk to digital program has some glitches. Luckily, you can take your collection to Walmart and they'll convert the movies for you, for $2 per movie. This can save you quite a bit of time and they don't have glitches. If it can be converted, they convert it.

5. Walmart's Instawatch Program
Walmart has another program that I really like. If you buy a DVD at Walmart and scan that receipt with the Walmart App, it'll instantly add a copy of that movie to your Vudu account for no extra charge. This works for most movies. It is especially nice with older movies. I love the old Magnificent 7 movie. It is way older than digital code time. I bought the movie and it ported to my account. I might end up giving the DVD copy to one of my brothers for a birthday present (probably the one who doesn't read my blog).

 6. U.V. Digital Codes
Some of your DVDs already have codes in the cases for digital copies. Almost every movie company is connected to the big digital movie distributor, Ultra Violet, and so is Vudu. If you put in the code like it lists on the instructions, and link all your accounts to Vudu, it'll instantly port to Vudu for free.

 7. Clean Interface
I couldn't really say this about Vudu right when I got it. It has always looked pretty good on the internet version, but in the last year they have really improved the experience on every other platform. It's easy and intuitive. The only annoying thing is that the landing page for the app is the store, rather than your library. I can live with that though. It's crisp and clean, has a smooth search feature, and has different ways you can sort your movies.

8. Reliability:
There are many online services that leave us wondering: how long will this really be around? Do I really want to invest a bunch of time and money into a program that will go out of business in a few years? Vine died, why should we trust Vudu? I like Vudu and trust it because it is part of Walmart. Many people don't like Walmart because it is such a big company, and many people don't agree with its business practices. This isn't a place where I'm going to comment on their business practices, but they are a big company. They are a giant company. I don't see Walmart going away any time soon. I also don't see the internet going away any time soon. Rather than slowing down, Vudu has only gotten bigger in the last couple years, and has really taken off in the last few months. If Vudu does go, you also have backup through the Ultra Violet library and account you have to set up.

9. Backup:
I originally got into Vudu because I'm moving across the country for grad school and didn't want to pack all the movies. I also like that digital copies can't be broken. I remember once I got Harry Potter 4, special addition for my birthday. I love Harry Potter. My little brother was a baby then. He stepped on the disk and that was that. If you break your phone that has your digital library, you can access it from another device. If you get another X-Box it will carry over. Your smart TV can have the same movies. They also don't get scratched. Buy the movie once and be done. Because they're all backed up online, there have been times when I'm at a friend's house having a movie night, and when I don't like their movie selection, I pull up my Vudu on a computer. It is so convenient.

I AM NOT GETTING PAID BY WALMART OR VUDU OR ANY OTHER COMPANY I MENTIONED IN THIS POST, TO PROMOTE THEM. I actually really like their services and products.

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